In 2017, attorneys Marc Rapaport and Meredith Miller of Rapaport Law Firm filed a proposed class action lawsuit against SKYC Management and Greisman Realty alleging that residents of fifty apartment buildings in Manhattan and the Bronx were victims of rent and security deposit overcharges. We are demanding financial damages and injunctive relief on behalf of thousands of low-income families who have suffered years of rent overcharges at the hands of these New York City slumlords.

New York landlords must deposit security deposits in bank accounts earning interest, and they are forbidden from commingling security deposits with other funds. Landlords who violate these rules must return security deposits to tenants. When an apartment is rent stabilized, a landlord cannot demand a security deposit above one-month’s legal rent.

The lawsuit alleges that SKYC Management and its managers, Shimon Greisman and Gary Gartenberg, required rent stabilized tenants to pay double or triple the amount of security allowed under New York law. The lawsuit also alleges that SKYC Management illegally retained tenants’ security deposits, instead of returning these funds to tenants when their leases ended. The lawsuit also alleges that SKYC Management engaged in pervasive rent overcharges and rent gauging.

It is time for New York landlords to follow the law. The attorneys at Rapaport Law Firm take pride in our legal battle against NYC landlords who violate rent stabilization laws.